My house was destroyed by a neighbour’s garden bonfire

Marsden was called in the early hours of the morning about the fire, and rushed back to find “every ceiling was down”.

“There was 60 years worth of soot mixed in with thousands of gallons of water and no roof.”

A builder by trade, Marsden has decided to rebuild his home himself, with the “tremendous help” of friends who also work in the industry.

He is currently renting a property, but initially stayed at the roofless house for two weeks to prevent it from being looted.

Marsden said his neighbour had already been targeted and had their jewellery stolen.

“So that’s why I moved back into my own house to stop what we had got left from being taken.

“I was so frightened – not that I’ve not got a million pounds worth of stuff hiding around – it’s just the bits that we had left.”

He added: “I refused to let that go as well.”

Marsden said during that fortnight he was not “probably not functioning at 100% mentally” and it was damp with a constant smell of burning. His electricity had been cut off, but has since been reconnected.

“I wouldn’t advise it – but it was a protection mode for what we’ve got,” he added.